Save the World, Max
by AK35947FPHS
Summary: Max's expiration date has finally appeared on the back of her neck, and there's no escaping it.  Now she has to decide what she wants to do with what little time she has left.  Oneshot, but may be continued.


Save the World, Max

**A/N: So this idea has been squirming around in my head for awhile. Finally I've decided to get it out on the screen, and this is the end result. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, and it's my first fanfic to be posted on this site, so it's probably not that great, but please read and review anyway! Oh, and it's set after MR3, a day after the flock leave Dr. Martinez's house.  
**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize—characters, situations, quotes from the book—is James Patterson's. I'm not making any profit whatsoever off of this story.**

I sat in the mouth of the cave we'd found in the side of a cliff, my legs dangling over the edge. If I slipped, there would be a long, long way to fall until I hit the rocky shore below.

What would it matter anyway? I only had six days left.

It was bright and sunny outside, which just felt so wrong. On a day like today, after a discovery like this, it should've been raining, the sky clouded over and gray. But the sun was shining, birds flew overhead, and the sky was the perfect shade of blue with a few clouds that looked like a five-year-old had drawn them. Even though it was winter, I wasn't even slightly chilly, and I only had my windbreaker on over my normal clothes. Right then, I hated the world for being so happy.

Pushing my hair out of the way, I reached over my shoulder with one hand and lightly touched the back of my neck, almost expecting to feel it. My fingers could detect nothing, just smooth skin. But I knew it was still there.

My expiration date.

Fang would never, ever lie about something like that. _Ever_. And he told me he'd seen it. I'd known there was something wrong when he stiffened from behind me, when he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"_Fang. What is it?"_

"_It's… nothing. Nothing, Max."_

"_Tell me. Now."_

"_On the back of your neck… It's there. Numbers. Your expiration date…_

"_You've only got six days left."_

As if summoned by my thoughts, Fang appeared beside me. He sat down right next to me. I didn't look at him directly, but out of the corner of my eye I saw that he wasn't looking at me either. He didn't touch me, didn't say anything, and neither did I. We just sat there in a silence that was almost comfortable, just sat there for the longest time.

Suddenly I remembered something that a whitecoat had said to Max II, right before we fought, right before Iggy and Gazzy blew up Itex.

"_Take out the old version. She's no good. She's got an expiration date."_

I hadn't thought much of it then. There'd been so much else to worry about.

Closing my eyes, I remembered Ari, slumping against me in the middle of the battle, his last word—my name—still hanging in the air. And the Eraser who'd caught me in New York, collapsing mid-step.

"It's kind of anticlimactic, really," I said suddenly, opening my eyes and looking out at the horizon again. Fang gave no sign that he'd heard, but I knew he was listening. "I always thought I'd be killed by—I dunno, Erasers or Flyboys, maybe in a nice big explosion, or protecting the flock. But instead I'm just going to kick the bucket for no apparent reason in a few weeks."

Silence. Fang turned his head slowly to look at me. Not for the first time, I couldn't read his expression at all.

"I talked to the Voi—Jeb about it," I told him quietly, remembering the brief flare of hope I'd had when I remembered that Jeb was a whitecoat, he worked at the School, of course he knew how to get out of the expiration date!

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could've sworn I'd heard a sizzle as that hope vanished.

"There's no way out of it," I continued, my voice flat. It still hadn't really hit me yet, that soon I would be dead. "He wanted me to come back and stay at Mom's until—until—" I broke off.

There was another short silence, and then—

"We're not going, are we?" Fang asked softly. He knew me way too well.

I shook my head. "No, we're not," I confirmed, feeling numb. Yesterday, when we left the house in Arizona, had been the last time I would ever see Mom and Ella. Jeb too, probably. It would just be me and the flock, till the very end. My end.

"You should just—just get out," Fang said fiercely, and I looked at him in surprise. "You know, do things you've always wanted to do, enjoy life while it's still there. We—the flock and I—we can take care of the whole save-the-world thing, when…"

I hesitated before answering him. It was so tempting to do just what he suggested, to take risks I never would have dared to take before, to try and cram everything I'd never had into the short time I had left. Why waste my last moments attempting to do something I'd probably never be able to accomplish if I had a million years, let alone six days? At the end of the game I would die anyway, and whether I'd saved the world from Itex and co. or not wouldn't matter either way.

But for now it did. It mattered a lot.

"No," I said again, my voice quiet enough that it was almost covered by the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks below. "No, we're not doing that either. We're going to save the world."

**A/N: Sorry it's so short. Like I said, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. I felt pretty bad for leaving the rest of the flock out of the story, but it wouldn't have fit. Looking back, it seems kinda boring, like this should be part of a longer story. Maybe I'll continue this if people like it... So, tell me what you think! And please be sincere, I don't care if you flame, it inspires me to write better.**


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